Plumb Memorial Library

onJanuary 28, 2014

The Library is looking for a person to run for Library Trustees in this April’s election. Trustees meet monthly, on Saturday mornings. The term is for three years. The Trustees oversee the overall library operation and serve as the Library Director’s supervisor. They help create the annual budget, review the Director’s performance, vote on expenditures such as new computer purchases, building needs, or other large purchases. If you are a registered Rochester voter, and are interested, speak to the Library Director, or see the Town Clerk to take out papers.

“Just the Facts,” the nonfiction book discussion group, will be reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells – taken without her knowledge or consent – became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though Henrietta has been dead for sixty years, and remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. This book brilliantly shows the story of the Lacks family, past and present, the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, and the birth of bioethics. We will discuss this book on Thursday, February 20 at 6:30 pm. Copies are available at the desk.

Café Parlez’ selection for February is “The Penelopiad”, by Margaret Atwood. In this contemporary twist to “The Odyssey”, Atwood has chosen to give the telling to Odysseus’ wife Penelope and her twelve hanged maids. Using wit and verve, Atwood gives Penelope a new life and reality, and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery – What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to? We will discuss this book on Thursday, February 27 at 6:30 pm. Books are available at the desk, or bring your own copy. Café Parlez is sponsored by the Friends of Plumb Library.